The New Ten
by KidWinTinker
Summary: Ben has discovered the Omnitrix in a forest. The ten new aliens are aliens from other works of popular fiction.
1. Chapter 1

Ben looked at the green device on his wrist in wonder. It had a funny design on it, two white lines starting at opposite corners, converging somewhere in the middle and then diverging again towards the opposite end. The device itself was huge, probably too big for him and definitely meant for someone much older. Ben tried tinkering with it, but it wouldn't come off.

He wasn't worried. Grandpa Max would know what to do. He always did. Until then, Ben was free to do as he pleased with his new found toy.

"watcha got there?"

Ben looked up. It was his annoying cousin.

"A gift from Grandpa Max" Ben told her.

"I don't believe you" said Gwendolen, not taking her eyes off the watch.

"Why? Just coz he likes me more than he likes you?" said Ben, not losing out on the opportunity to needle his sister.

"Let me see" said Gwen, reaching out to take possession of the watch. Ben pulled his hand away and kept it behind his back. He smiled at her. She looked at him with faint annoyance.

''I'm telling Grandpa" she said. With that she turned around and ran out of the woods towards the "Rustbucket", the affectionately named bus that the three of them were using to travel around the countryside.

"hehehe.. what a sucker" thought Ben to himself.

Maxwell Tennyson was worried. He remembered how often he had been told that you never really retired from being a plumber, dismissing the words as empty wisdom at the time. The memories came rushing back to him as a breathless Gwen told him about a "big, fancy green watch" that Ben was wearing. ("You don't think he stole it, do you Grandpa?")

He had left her kicking and screaming, and bursting with far too many questions in the Rustbucket, ("Ben's always getting into trouble Grandpa, why should I be punished?") and was now running faster than he had in years. His fitness was not what it once was, but he would still put many professional athletes to shame.

"Ben! Where are you?" he screamed, as he reached the spot that Gwen had described.

"I'm right here" said Ben. Max turned around to look at Ben, to find that he was still very much looking at a human, that it was still Ben except ...

Max realized at once what had happened. It would have completely skipped the attention of literally every other person on the planet. What were the odds? Not that stupefying, considering that *they* would have been looking to send it to him.

"Ben, we need to talk. Seriously. Now." Max Tennyson kept his voice calm, but stern. He was feeling far more relieved now than he was a few minutes ago, but this still meant that the worst was possible. He raised his right hand, his fist clenched, save for his index finger which pointed directly towards the direction he had come running from.

"What happened Gramps? What did Gwen say?" said Ben, his ten year old voice quivering slightly.

"I'll explain when we get ba-" Max stopped speaking as he saw his grandson's eyes glow a bright yellow. There really was no point in saying anything further now. Ben, at the age of ten years had just been exposed to a lifetime of experience, a majority of which was horrifying.

The fraction of a second in which Max waited felt like an eternity. Ben's mind would either be shattered from the trauma or...

"Oh, I see" managed Ben.


	2. Chapter 2

Gwendolen was lost in her own world. She loved video games, even if she pretended otherwise. The girls at school made fun of her for acting too much like a boy. Some even said that she did it just for Kevin's attention. None of that was true, she told herself. They were just jealous that she was having more fun than any of them. She was now playing a high level version of Pacman. She always thought that eating aliens was more fun than eating ghosts. Everybody knew that ghosts weren't real. She ate and ate and ate some more. Only 6000 points more and she would beat Ben's top score.

There was a knock at the door. It was probably them. Grandpa Max and Ben were speaking in rushed tones, and Gwen sensed their anxiety. Ben must have gotten it good, she thought to herself. Serves him right for picking up things that didn't belong to him.

She hit the pause button and went to open the door for them.

"You know, I could save us a few seconds if I just walked through the door and unlocked it from the inside" Ben was saying. "Not now" said Grandpa as Gwen opened the door.

Grandpa Max had his forehead creased in all sorts of wrinkles, but he was smiling. There was a little more tightness around his eyes than there usually was. It was unusual for him, but Gwen remembered that he was an old person after all. All old people ended up _like that_ eventually, she supposed. She felt glad that she wasn't an old person. There was something odd about Ben. He looked a little taller and for some reason more muscular. And his hair was longer. His eyes... Greener.

"Hi there cuz" said Ben, in a bright cheerful voice. He took two steps forward and hugged her.

"What are you doing?!" she shrieked. Ben let go of her and walked into the Rustbucket. He sat down on the couch and put his legs up on the table lying just in front.

It took Gwen a few seconds to realize that something wasn't quite what it was supposed to be. She looked up at Grandpa. "Why aren't you shouting at him? He's getting his dirty shoes all over the coffee table."

"Relax cuz. Gramps knows I ain't going to do nothing bad." After a few moments of wistful silence he added "Nothing that can't be fixed anyways."

"Cuz?!" said Gwen, more confused than ever. She looked from Ben to Grandpa and then back to Ben. She did this a few more times before she threw her hands up in the air and walked back to her game.

Max shot Ben a look that said (almost screamed) 'dont push it'.

Ben nodded in understanding. His eyes glowed again and he nodded. There was no doubt about it now. He had been lectured on how important it was to keep the whole thing a secret and how there was no way to undo the damage it would cause if people came to know. Grandpa was happy that he didn't go bat shit insane with all the cool stuff he could do, but he also worried that it wouldn't last.

Power corrupts. Power corrupts. Power corrupts.

The phrase kept repeating itself over and over in Grandpa Max's head, but the fact remained that Ben had won the jackpot in the lottery for power. For no reason whatsoever other than sheer luck and the fact that Grandpa had dedicated years of his life in service of a goal greater than any found here on Earth.

As if to accentuate the point, the alien he picked on his very first go was one of the better ones. Grandpa had told him from inside his head that Ben was now what they had called " **the Martian Manhunter** ".

He could do a bunch of things now. He could hear people think. He could look different and actually _be_ different. He walk through walls, doors and even the trees outside. And he could fly. He had flown. With Grandpa Max in his arms, weighing a fraction of what his backpack normally felt like. And that wasn't all he could do...

He really ought to tell Gwen that he didn't care if she beat his high score. Instead he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, waiting for the right moment.

Gwen was devastated. She had just wasted an hour. All for nothing. All because of the slip of her finger. She was just thirty seconds away from wiping that smug look of Ben's face when she hit the wrong arrow. Pacman ended up walking straight into the alien with the yellow aura. The screen showed his name as Mongul. Mongul beat Pacman up with a fist that was adorned by 15 yellow rings.

Gwen was so fixated on the screen that she had ended up counting them.

"What's up, cuzzz..?" said Ben. He stood behind her, but her eyes were still rooted to the screen. Just for fun, Ben turned invisible and then waved his right in front of her face.

Grandpa Max had stepped out of the Rustbucket for a while. He told the kids that he needed to make a call and that it was important. Ben had all the time in the world to be naughty now and he knew it.

He was smiling to himself even though he couldn't see his reflection off Gwen's screen. Suddenly, Gwen stirred.

Uh-oh, thought Ben.

Gwen spun around in her chair and looked up. She saw Ben, fully opaque and smiling. Her eyes were narrow as she looked at him accusingly.

"It was you, Ben" she said.

"Huh?" The smile vanished faster than Ben had appeared.

"You distracted me. You and Grandpa. I was about to beat your score. You guys came and spoilt my momentum."

"Say what?" said Ben, relieved. Grandpa would have killed him otherwise.

He had never understood why Gwen spent so much time thinking about what she did. Why couldn't she just play the game like he did? Of course, he didn't help things when he rubbed her face in it.

"I'm going again. Just you wait mister!"

Ben nodded. He decided to let her play it out this time.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Chapter 3

Max Tennyson put the last wire in place and took a step back. He exhaled slowly and examined the set-up. It had been a lifetime since he had done this. He wasn't sure whether he remembered the entire procedure correctly, but this was done to the best of his ability. It seemed alright.

He hit the code on the keypad and it came to life without making a sound or emitting a light. Max put on the headphones and adjusted the microphone. The last time he had used this device it was the 1970s. It had been a staple part of his weekly conference calls with the other plumbers across the galaxy. He had a hard time feigning excitement when Skype was launched, but had done it convincingly anyways.

"Hello? State your badge number for identification please" came a voice from the other end.

"It's me" said Max simply.

A silence followed this announcement and then the reply came - "One moment Mr. Tennyson. I'll ask Magister Labrid to come to the device."

"That's okay. I'm sure he's expecting my call" said Max. The operator didn't reply.

Soon a second voice appeared on the set. "Hey Max! How are ya, old buddy?"

"Why now?" asked Max.

"What? You got no time for Chitchat? You forget your manners when you retired?"

"I don't have time for this, Labrid. You sent me the Omnitrix. Without a warning call. And you got my co-ods wrong. I told you I was out. I've done my part. You guys need to take over. Pull up your goddamn socks."

"What are socks?"

Max groaned. "Never mind. I need you to deactivate the device. Now."

"See, that's the problem-"

"DO IT NOW!" roared Max.

"Max, we Can't."

"I'm giving you authorization."

"No Max. You aren't listening. We can't shut em off anymore. That's why we sent them out. Something happened to the mainframe here. The kill-switch is bust. It's over. We destroyed the ones still in production. We didn't know what to do with the retired ones. So we sent them to the guys that wore them. No matter how long ago they did."

Max froze. He clenched and un-clenched his fists several times. When he spoke, it was with deliberate slowness "You have got to be kidding me."

"Hey, it worked out well in the end didn't it? I'm looking at the data on your device right now. Genetic code confirmed. Congrats buddy. This device is all yours now. And unlike the last time, no restriction. Yours and your alone. Whatever you want."

"And the others?"

"Sent back to their respective owners in their respective galaxies. Same terms and conditions. The plumbers really trusts it's alumni. Trust me Max. This is for the best. Everyone knows you guys would never screw up."

"We wouldn't, Labrid. But you just did. The code is verified, but it's not me that's wearing the Omnitrix. It's my grandkid."

"Your offspring?"

"My offspring's offspring"

"Holy Divine Entity. You earth folk are pretty complicated you know."

"Not really. And stop invoking a fairytale that doesn't exist Labrid. We wouldn't be in this position if he did."

"Still haven't changed, have ya Max? Anyways, I'm not fussed. How old is this guy?"

"He's not a guy. He's a kid."

"Uh huh."

"He's 10"

"That's pretty old."

"10 human years, Labrid. Our years have only 365 days. And we metabolise and develop slowly. A lot slower than you would think."

"Okay. I'm still not sure why you're so worried Max. He's a good kid. He's got your genes after all."

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. Chapter 4

This was unexpected. Ben wasn't quite feeling himself. Sure, he was mischievous and a maybe even a little much to handle sometimes, but this was something else entirely.

It had been close to a week since they had returned from the woods and Grandpa Max had told Ben that there was no reason whatsoever for him to use the omnitrix again. He had explained in what seemed like excruciating detail, the amount of self awareness and self control that Ben would require before he was able to control his selection of alien species.

Ben had simply nodded. He had of course already known this having seen it in Grandpa Max's head. He hadn't had time to find out everything that his Grandpa knew, but he had found out enough.

One week later, Ben found that his grandfather had in fact vastly *overestimated* the amount of self -control a hyperactive ten year old possesses.

Gwen was fast asleep. She would wake up in the morning however and when she did, she would *still* be here. The last few days had felt incredibly long and Ben simply couldn't take it anymore. So he had snuck out of the house in the afternoon, just after a heavy lunch, and had found his way to a scrapyard. And here he was. He was hoping to fly around, maybe change into a big serpent, turn invisible, appear out of nowhere again. He could even scare a few passersby. No one would believe them if they went out and told the rest of the world that they had seen a shape shifting monster anyways. Besides, Ben had seen a few older kids in the neighborhood head out to this spot. He usually saw them move in the same way he moved when he didn't want to be seen. Naturally that had made him curious as to what it was that they did here, and he knew he could get a lot of information from them even if he got just a few seconds of their time before they ran away.

He didn't get to do any of that. Instead he found himself feeling, bigger and stuck. *This was unexpected*.

Ben walked with large steps. Each time his foot hit the ground, it made a thud noise as if something heavy were landing on it. It was odd, since Ben didn't feel heavy at all. But the strangest thing of all was this weird feeling he was having on the inside. His heart was beating faster, his health feeling a lot better. It was hard to point out why but Ben knew that he could take a lot more punishment. It wasn't simply an increased endurance that he had. Ben *wanted* to fight. He wanted to hit someone and hit them hard. He *wanted* them to hit back only to fail. It suddenly seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

But the weirdest thing that Ben found himself thinking was how much he loved this scrap yard. He was suddenly overcome by an urge to attach something like a rocket launcher on one of the old beaten down Harley's that he saw lying around and ride her somewhere into the air. The pile of metal surrounding him was suddenly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

"Damn, this is cool" said Ben out loud. As he said it, he realized he wasn't speaking in his own voice anymore. His voice was deep - distinctively so. It felt as if it belonged to middle aged African warlord.

Ben walked around the scrap yard. Maybe he oughtta start building that bike right away before he became ten year old Ben again.

He walked over to the nearest pile of unattended rubble. The biggest part of it was a car that had been half crushed. Ben picked up the car. With one hand.

"Whoa ! This is cool!" Ben said in his new baritone while waving the car up and down for effect. He shook the tangle of metal and plastic in the sir and a seat fell out of it, in much the same way salt and pepper falls out of a salt and pepper shaker. Ben reached out with his other hand and pulled a door off its hinge. He turned it around a couple of times and found the door to still be fairly shiny and reflective.

He looked at his reflection in the door that now served as his mirror. The car door, much like the rest of the car was painted red. But it wasn't a shiny shade of red, and when Ben looked at his mirror, that was the first thing he noticed. I have red eyes, he thought to himself. His hair was long, and erect as if he had stepped out of a commercial for better electrical wiring. His skin was gray and almost scaly. And he had facial hair. An abundance of it. And it was coarse and rugged.

"Who goes there?" came a voice from the far end of the scrapyard. It was an old man with a shotgun in his hand. The gun was double barreled and looked like it belonged in the last century.

"Nobody you oughtta be messing with" replied Ben. _*Why did he say that?*_ Grandpa wasn't going to like this one bit..

"Listen, Old Man. You don't need to worry. I'm the ****Main Man**** around here."

The man with gun reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone that looked more like a walkie talkie. "We gotta problem. There's an old man with leprosy here. Skin's all gray. I think he's insane too. Better call them coppers."


	5. Chapter 5

Ben ran his hands through his hair, paused in the middle and then began to scratch it. It was not what he thought he would do when he got attacked by junkyard goons, but it seemed the most natural thing in the world as he did it.

He picked the two of them up one in each hand. They struck at him - aiming for his face, his chest, his arms and shoulders and finally the sensitive area below his belt. Ben reacted to the blows with a wide yawn. The man in his right hand looked as if he was about to be eaten by a lion and started scrambling frantically. He went no where of course with his legs off the ground. The other man dropped his weapon of choice, a baseball bat, to the ground and began to mumble apologies.

"You're damn right!" boomed Ben. A part of him began to worry. He was enjoying this far too much. Which meant that he was enjoying it far too much to really worry. And that was in fact what worried him.

"Please let us, go. We'll tell the cops not to come. Tell them it was a misunderstanding" bawled the aggressors turned victims.

"Hmm.. alright" said Ben.

"Really?" asked one while the other let his jaw hang.

"No"

As they bawled in his arms, Ben opened his palms and let them drop to the ground. They fell on their bottoms with a thud and Ben began to laugh. Instead of breaking the tension, the already white with fear men turned an even paler complexion.

"How about this? I let you guys go on one condition."

"You got it man. Name it, absolutely anything."

"Well, first I need one of you to run back to the place that you'll dropped in from and then come back here. This time don't bring a pitchfork or a shotgun. But get me a video camera."

He paused. Everybody glanced at the rifle that lay discarded in the corner. It was as effective on Ben as a water pistolIn what was now becoming signature fashion, Ben scratched his chin and then added. "Well, I got a different kind of shooting in mind now. Heh heh."

"I'll do it" said the first of the two to recover and took partner stood rooted to the spot, gulping five minutes of waiting alone, with no sign of his partner returning, he decided that it was better to strike a conversation than allow Ben to get bored.

"So what's your story, mister?"

"My What?"

"Well, I mean… just that, you out here all by yourself."

"The Main Man doesn't carry a crew with him. I don't like having an entourage." Said Ben. It is mighty comfortable in this new skin, Ben thought to himself.

"By golly.. You're the toughest man we seen out here by far.. I mean, we seen our share o nasty folk, believe me sire. But poke a man with a knife, hit em with wood and pump him full of lead and every one of em does bleed. Not you though." He paused as if he was unsure of continuing.

"The Main Man don't bleed" said Ben, nodding vigorously.

"Do you have a condition or something…Sir.?"

"Yeah. I do. It's called being awesome. I'm as awesome as my Grandpa- uh, I mean, Grand Poobah."

"Beg your pardon?"

"Yeah. That's right" said Ben taking a step towards his listener "The Main Man got a grand Poobah. You got a problem with that?"

Uh-oh, said a tiny voice in Ben's head. Now you've really done it. . You could've just scared the life out of em, kept your mouth shut and walked away.

"Are you sure, you don't have some place you gotta be? Like a number or something? Maybe there's a number or something that we can use..." he said, tentatively reaching for Ben's pocket.

Ben stuck his hand out and flicked his finger... right in the man's face. A second later, the man was screaming out, howling in pain, the blood running thick and heavy down his face.

"Hey man, I'm really sorry!" said Ben, wondering if he really deserved an apology. He had tried to attack Ben with a baseball bat earlier, but Grandpa had taught him better than to hold grudges.

"Look, I just had the wrong idea alright? I thought you'd just go flying back and land on back or something. Ya' know, like they do on tv."

"My dose..." the man wailed. "You broke my dose..."

"I'll make it up to you" said Ben. "I know a guy – specializes in this kind of stuff. He fix you up real good." He specializes in everything, Ben thought to himself, but he found no reason to say that out loud.

"You broke my dose and my blip" the man wailed between sobs as drops of blood fell from his face. It looked gruesome, but Ben found himself chuckling.

"Tell you what – look on the Brightside. At least you don't have to do the chicken dance, like I was gonna make ya. Though this could get a couple of million hits on YouTube by itself."

The man slumped on to the ground, in a pool of self pity.

All of a sudden, Ben heard the sound. The confidence in his manner disappeared. He knew what the sound was. The last time he heard it was when he was the martian manhunter and it signaled that he was going to become a ten year old human again.


	6. Chapter 6

Beep. Beep. Beep. BEEP. **BEEEEPPP**!

This must be what Gwen feels like during exam time thought Ben to himself. He was running and leaping over cars, rooftops carefully choosing routes that had been abandoned. It was a smart thing to do, but Ben wasn't sure how much it would help. He was a hulking grey giant after all. The bleeding man on his shoulder didn't help his case either. The beeping of the Omnitrix grew louder and louder, and Ben knew that once he transforms back into well… Ben, he wouldn't be as cool as the Main Man.

That would be Grandpa's department, his would be just plain freaking out.

"Can I have some water?" asked the man on Ben's shoulder. Ben didn't answer. He thought about whether he was strong enough to bust open a fire hydrant and decided that he probably was. But he didn't have time.

"Please mister, I think I'm gonna die"

"You die, when the Main Man let's you die" said Ben. Then after pausing for a second he added "which should be never. Never ever. But we'll figure that out later."

Ben paused at the street that led to his house. He thought about it for a second and then decided it was too risky. He couldn't afford it if the old geezer knew where he lived.

The woods on the outskirts of town were about 20 minutes by car, Ben could make it in 15 if he ran as the Main Man.

 **BEEEEEPPPP!**

 **"** Sorry" said Ben. He didn't wait to be told that it was okay or to be asked what for. He struck the man on the back of his head with the lower edge of his right palm. The man obligingly went limp and lost consciousness.

Not a moment too soon, Ben thought as he turned back into a ten year old. He then realized that the man weighed a lot more suddenly and it wasn't just because he was dead weight.

The forest now seemed to be unimaginably far. "Oh Shucks" said Ben. He tried to shrug it off and wait for the wave of Czarnian hormones to shoot through his body, easing his worries, but all he felt was the sudden sense of worry accompanied by a shortness of breath.

He counted himself lucky that he had gotten the Manhunter on his first go. He loved Grandpa and knew the feeling was mutual, but didn't trust him to tell Ben the whole truth. Grandpa had been honest when he said he was a plumber, but that hadn't exactly been the whole truth.

Ben pulled up his wrist and looked at the Omnitrix. It glowed red. It needed to be recharged. It was just as well Ben thought. It was as likely to throw up a problem as it was a solution.

He weighed his options. The street was dark. His comical attempt at violence had resulted in a serious but non-fatal injury. He could leave him here and hope that someone would find him before it turned into morning. It's what Kevin would do said another tiny voice in his head.

But he didn't want to be like Kevin. Gwen may have a thing for him, but Ben knew that the world would be a better place if there were less people like Kevin and more people like Ben.

Another voice in Ben's head spoke. Maybe there's a better reason for keeping him out here. He would be found by someone- a responsible person who could take care of things. In other words, an adult. All you can do is take him up your house, and leave blood stains all over your bedroom. Oh, and the stairs. And mom's going to notice the cotton and band aid that goes missing.

You know what, that's right said Ben to himself. He had barely taken two steps away before he heard the bark of a dog. It was a stray dog. Ben had over heard grandpa Max complain to some local authorities about how dangerous these beasts could get if left to roam the streets freely. He also complained about how poorly they were treated when they were actually caught by the dog pound, and how it did little good for the poor canines or those whose lives they affected. The relevant memories suddenly flashed through Ben's brain as if they were his own. "Gosh darn those scoundrels!" thought Ben to himself feeling rather old.

He couldn't bring himself to do it. Ben picked up the man, dragging him slowly towards his house. As it came into view, he noticed his Dad's car was in the driveway. Ben would have a lot of explaining to do. Unless he thought of some thing real quick.


End file.
